Duff completes Chelski move

[brighton rock]

Duff completes Chelski move


Duff's career statistics
Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff has completed his £17m move to Chelsea.
The 24-year-old winger has signed a four-year deal and becomes the Blues' fourth summer capture following billionaire Roman Abramovich's takeover of the club.

Wayne Bridge also signed for the Stamford Bridge club on Monday to add to the earlier arrivals of Glen Johnson from West Ham and Geremi from Real Madrid.

The quartet have taken Chelsea's spending to the £37m mark.

Bridge joins Chelsea

Duff will now join the Chelsea squad for their Far East tour where they will be taking part in an inaugural FA Premier League Asia Cup in Malaysia, along with Premiership rivals Newcastle and Birmingham.

Duff had asked for the weekend to think over the move after discussions with Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri last Saturday.

The Man Utd stuff was speculation and it just came down to whether I wanted to stay at Blackburn or move to Chelsea

Damien Duff

"It's been a tough weekend and a long one," Duff told Chelsea's in-house television station.

"And it was a tough decision because I didn't really want to leave Blackburn.

"I just want to get playing football now. I'm not interested in all this hullaballoo and just want to get playing football again."

"I've been down here three times in the last week and it feels right."

There were reports that Manchester United might try and hijack the deal after missing out on Ronaldinho.

But the Old Trafford club denied they were going to make such a move and Duff said that a switch to Old Trafford was never an option.

"The Man Utd stuff was speculation and it just came down to whether I wanted to stay at Blackburn or move to Chelsea," he said.

Duff now becomes the most expensive player in Chelsea's history, overtaking the £15m the club paid for striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Duff added: "It's a great honour for myself and my family but the most important thing is what happens on the pitch."

Blackburn finally agreed a fee from Chelsea on Thursday after turning down their previous offers.

Duff had a clause in his contract allowing him to leave if a club comes in with an offer of £17m

 

[brighton rock]

Bridge signs for Chelsea


Bridge has played for his hometown club since joining as an apprentice
Bridge career statistics
Summer transfers in photos
Wayne Bridge completed his £7m switch from Southampton to Chelsea on Monday, with Graeme Le Saux moving in the opposite direction.

England full-back Bridge, 22, signed a five-year deal and is the third summer arrival at Stamford Bridge as part of new owner Roman Abramovich's revolution.

Bridge joins Geremi and Glen Johnson, who have already moved to the Blues for a combined £13m.

Bridge, who is keen to secure a first-team berth in the England side, admitted that his switch to Claudio Ranieri's side fitted in with his ambitions.

"This is a big step up for me with the players Chelsea are looking to buy to build a great squad," Bridge told Chelsea's official website.

"They've got a good squad at the moment so hopefully I can add to that and I've certainly come here to win medals."

Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe earlier revealed that Bridge, who joined the club as a trainee, had completed his move to Stamford Bridge.

"We can confirm that Wayne Bridge has signed a contract with Chelsea Football Club," announced Lowe.

"Graeme Le Saux has at the same time signed a two-year contract with our club and will be travelling to Sweden to join the squad later this week."

The 34-year-old Le Saux is thought to have cost Southampton about £500,000 to move to St Mary's.

HAVE YOUR SAY
Bridge is in my opinion the best left-back in the country - I wanted this signing more than any other, this is the best one yet!

Samlynes
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Chelsea tabled a third bid for Bridge last week and Lowe admitted he had little option but to let the left-back open talks once he handed in a transfer request.

Lowe added: "We are understandably sad to lose the services of Wayne Bridge.

"But he made it abundantly clear that he saw joining Chelsea as a career progression despite having three years remaining on his contract with Southampton Football Club.

"We continue to subscribe to the view that sporting success is achieved by people who want to play together, share a common goal and are committed to the club and their team-mates.

Chelsea's shopping list

"Graeme Le Saux will bring great ability and experience to our squad and we all look forward to working with him to take the club forward."

Bridge has won 11 England caps under England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and has made 173 appearances for the Saints

 

[CHAPPERS]

As much as i'm hating all this chelski bollocks they are building a very good yound side full of British and Irish players which in the long run can only be a good thing, getting these youngsters playing with the big boys is very important to the future of the game, unlike Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool who now seem hell bent on buying foreign as much as possible.

 

[Brovion]

Agreed CTS. If Chelsea continue to build a predominately 'British Isles' side I won't hate them quite so much. Probably. Or maybe not.